DC Nightlife Noise

How loud is too loud

Rule 1 on DC bars:
if you can hear
the music, it's too loud

For your restful sleep, you need a room where the ambient sound is
30dB
or less, says the World Health Organization research findings. If
you live near a
nightclub, you can only get down to 30dB if the nightclub limits its
sound
output to the legal maximum of 60 dB and you have reasonably insulating
windows. We are trying to get the DC officials to impose and enforce a strict limit
of 60dB sound output from the nightlife clubs.

For a good night’s sleep,
the equivalent sound level should not
exceed 30 dB(A) for continuousbackground noise, and individual
noise events exceeding 45 dB(A) should
be avoided. In setting limitsfor
single night-time noise exposures, the intermittent character of
the noise has to be taken into account.This can be achieved, for example, by
measuring the number of noise
events, as well as the differencebetween the maximum sound level and the
background sound level. Special
attention should also begiven
to: noise sources in an environment with low background sound
levels; combinations of noise andvibrations; and to noise sources with
low-frequency components.

Some noise is inherent in nightclub presence - sirens, shouting,
traffic, vehicle horns - and the more nightclubs, the more such
noise. Our measurements of the noise at peak periods, like 2 AM, put
the street noise levels in the mid-70s DB which mostly has a
white noise character which attenuates naturally proportional to
distance from the source. But the sleep-disturbing sounds reach into
the brain's natural alarm function evolved long, long ago to alert our
ancestors to danger.

There is plenty of research on the physiological effects of various
noises, even relatively low dB noise, on sleep, such that
using sound amplitude (dB) as the sole measure is inadequate.

The information content
of noise as well as the sound level is important for the person asleep.
The alarm function of the sense of hearing may cause awakening even
when the noise
is very soft if the noise contains information important for the
sleeping person. …… Frequent occurrence of arousals lead to a
deformation of circadian rhythms. Deformation is revealed by a
fragmented progression of sleep. Sympathetic tonus is increased as a
result of the fragmentation of sleep during the night or of the
multiple arousal occurrence. This leads to impaired sleep quality and
to decreased performance capacity, drowsiness and tiredness
during the day. …… Sudden, unexpected noise events set off a series of
stress reactions with an initial startle reflex, followed by an
orienting reaction directed towards locating and validating the sensory
stimulus. This reaction habituates relatively fast. The sequence of the
stress reactions under concern is genetically programmed and provide
biologically vital protection strategies without adverse effects on
health as long as they occur seldom ….. Neuro-endocrine effects during
sleep:
The following is focussed on why the sleeping human organism responds
to low noise levels with considerable cortisol increases
. Our ear is on the alert day and night serving as our most
important sensory warning system. This is a reason why environmental
sounds are percepted and processed whether a person is awake or asleep.
In sound processing, specific subcortical areas of the CNS play an
essential part in increases of cortisol concentration during sleep at
low sound levels. [Ising,
Berliner Zentrum
Public Health]

The letters from residents complaining of the noise interruptions of
sleep all focus on the music, which does not diminish by habituation.
Sirens and horns are bad enough because their function is to
trigger
that brain alarm through auto windows. But some music has the same
effect, particularly the brand of music typically played at high volume
(even over 100 dB) because research finds that it actually increases
drinking. A French experiment found that loud music increases the speed
of drinking by 20%. One clue is the frequent use of an alarm clock-radio tuned
to a
music radio station.

Research has shown that sensitivity to noise cannot be easily
defined and reduced to a single variable. [see Soames, Job R F, Noise sensitivity as a factor
influencing
human reaction to noise, Noise Health 1999;1:57-68] The Palladium
residents who describe their reaction to the late-night music are
oblviously sensitive to that combination of place, time, and noise
source. The wide variability
of sensitivity argues for a rule that controls the noise impinging on
the residence rather than putting the burden on resident to defend
against whatever noise assault they find thenselves under.

The [British] Chartered Institute of Environmental Health noted that
"The commonest type of offending noise is not pneumatic drills, cars or
aircraft, but music." Although that finding was used in a
Campaign for Freedom from Piped Music, the pertinent phemonenon is the
same as night club music in residential neighborhoods - unwelcome music
to residents "trapped, with no chance of escape from someone else's
choice of music." [Simon Frith, Music
and everyday life, Critical Quarterly, Volume 44, Issue 1,
pages 35–48, April 2002] Unwelcome music, even at low volume as
is background music in airports, triggers an adverse
reaction.
It is certainly within the realm of possibility that the resident
letter writers
are only the worst affected of a large population of residents
who are disturbed in sleep by such music but do not cennect their
disturbance with low level musical sounds. The operating
criterion for residents should be that they be free from unwelcome
music in the sleeping hours. If a busker can be banned, so should a
nightclub music maker.

Research continues. Ising and Kruppa (2004) reviewed the
state of the art.

Previously, extraaural
noise effects were mostly assessed using a
paradigm in which the sound level played the major role. On the basis
of this paradigm the relatively low sound level of environmental noise
was not considered to be a potential danger to health. In contrast to
this numerous empirical results have shown long­term noise-induced
health risks. Therefore a radical change of attitude - a change of
paradigm - is necessary. For an immediate triggering of protective
reactions (fight/flight or defeat reactions) the information conveyed
by noise is very often more relevant than the sound level. It was shown
recently that the first and fastest signal detection is mediated by a
subcortical area - the amygdala. For this reason even during sleep the
noise from aeroplanes or heavy goods vehicles may be categorised as
danger signals and induce the release of stress hormones. In accordance
with the noise stress hypothesis chronic stress hormone dysregulations
as well as increases of established endogenous risk factors of
ischaemic heart diseases have been observed under long-term
environmental noise exposure. Therefore, an increased risk of
myocardial infarction is to be expected. The results of individual
studies on this subject in most cases do not reach statistical
significance. However, according to the Environmental Expert Council,
these studies show a consistent trend towards an increased
cardiovascular risk if the daytime immission level exceeds 65
dB(A). [Ising H, Kruppa B. Health effects caused by
noise : Evidence in the literature from the past 25 years. Noise Health
[serial online] 2004;6:5-13. Available from:
http://www.noiseandhealth.org/text.asp?2004/6/22/5/31678]

Some added evidence comes from the war on terror, it is absolutely clear that music plays an
important role in the interrogation of detainees in the war on terror.
[Suzanne Cusick, Music
as a weapon / Music as torture 2006] Although loud bar music
heard at a distance does not reach the level of torture (even to the
bar patrons who seem to demand such music), that is

the state’s
interrogators
share with many
civilian musicians, composers and scholars the notion that listening to
music can dissolve subjectivity, releasing a person into a paradoxical
condition that is both highly embodied and almost disembodied in the
intensity with which one forgets important elements of one’s identity,
and loses track of time’s passing,

the fact of music's
ability to disturb individuals suggests that some residents could be
distinctly affected, even unknowingly. The letter writers attest to
some damage to some people, a sufficient condition for eliminating the
source of damage, a source that has no useful public purpose that
merits continuance.

On balance, unwelcome noise in sleep has an advarse effect on some percent of the population.

Fact: bar music is completely in the bar's control, and any
external
music is too loud.